Canadian Airline to Take up 272 Galaxy Tabs As In-Flight Entertainment

By Pradeep Chandrasekaran on 04/18/2012 08:23 PST

Seattle based start-up company Skycast solutions has customized Samsung’s 8.9-inch Galaxy Tab tablets for use as in-flight entertainment on Canadian budget airline, WestJet. The TrayVu Slim is the Skycast rebranded Galaxy Tab runs a customized version of Android and is combined with the company’s custom content-management software which can be “rented” to passengers to allow them to watch the latest movies or television programs.

Greg Latimer, Chief Marketing Officer of Skycast has told Seattle Times that the initial contract would see the company provide 68 tablets per plane on 4 of the airline’s fleet but they also state that as many as 85-90% of passengers would bring their own device for entertainment. Despite that, Latimer believes that with the content included, passengers would be drawn to the short-term rental of the tablets available on board the flight.

While there has been no official announcement of the rental price yet it is said to be in the region of $10 to $15 for transcontinental trips. With companies like American Airlines previously giving out tablets as in-flight entertainment prior to WestJet’s move, this is nothing new but is still a good idea. The tablets are due to be deployed for WestJet’s two new Boeing 737 planes in June. What do you think about a premium movie or TV experience of a tablet on board WestJet?